


Endymion: Beyond Light - Prelude

by Anarchyinplasma



Series: Life and Times of a Risen [13]
Category: Destiny (Video Games)
Genre: Gen, Prelude to Beyond Light
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-10
Updated: 2020-11-10
Packaged: 2021-03-08 19:14:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,207
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27491764
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Anarchyinplasma/pseuds/Anarchyinplasma
Summary: A mysterious disturbance with the Traveller leads to a situation in the Last City.
Relationships: Tallulah Fairwind/Raven Fairwind
Series: Life and Times of a Risen [13]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/643955
Kudos: 1





	Endymion: Beyond Light - Prelude

**Author's Note:**

> Little prelude here for something up-coming (I hope). I hope it's enjoyable.

Endymion are still watching the SRL when it happens. The Traveller swells with light, in the displayed race the riders stop in their tracks, Ariadne Gris turns to her ghost and fellow commentator in the box.  
“Can you feel that?”  
“I can feel something.” Raven murmurs in response. Tallulah frowns and Artemis appears in a fizzling flash of light.  
“I… I think…” The Ghost sounds disoriented. Raven gets to her feet, Tallulah and Arcturus following as all three hunters don their gear and head straight out of the building.

“It’s the Traveller.” Raven mutters; a spectral blade springs from her fingers seemingly without conscious thought, balancing by the tip of the impossibly sharp blade on her finger.  
“Let’s move.” Tallulah orders, taking off towards the centre of the city, the others hot on her heels.  
“What the hell is happening.” Raven asks as they run, Apollo shimmers into existence in front of her.  
“It’s like a Ghost, only… bigger. It’s coming from the Traveller.”  
“Helpful.” Arcturus mutters under his breath as they run, picking up speed as Tallulah ahead of them jumps up to a roof-top. He pushes off after her, jumping from solid ground to bare air, then again until his hands grasp the edge of the roof-top and he pulls himself up and over and keeps following his leader as his boots slip and slide over the tiny stones on the concrete.

“Ghosts all over the system are reporting in, it’s like a heartbeat.” Ahead of him, Arcturus notices Tallulah starting to shed excess light, tiny particles of solar energy tracing her form just like they always do when she’s channeling the excess energy of her knives away after a huge barrage. He barely has time to question why she’s pulling on her light when he feels the void pulse suddenly in his veins, exactly the way his bow always does. He’s so close to Raven he feels her light do exactly the same, and watches as a split-second later her gait shifts and she’s running with spectral blades out and her image fading in and out of his perception.

Arcturus shrugs and keeps following Tallulah in her mad dash over the rooftops of the City, taking a leaf out of his adoptive sister’s book and channelling the excess he can feel into his bow, feeling the sleek curves form around his hand like they always do as a gravity well spins between his fingers and twists itself into a double-helix woven ribbon of amethyst light that soon becomes an arrow. Strangely the energy he has access to still feels topped off and full, like he’s being filled from without with light.

Tallulah leaps a gap between buildings and Raven follows, her speed outstripping Arcturus’ with her agility augmented so much by her light. But with his awareness augmented so much by his bow being in his hand Arcturus finally sees what Tallulah is running hell-for-leather towards. A cluster of Guardians and Risen stand on a roof ahead of them, touched by flame lightning and the void in equal measure.

Endymion finally reunite in the midst of this group of light-born, light still humming and full of unused energy. Tallulah in particular is completely wrapped in flames, licking along every surface of her armour, knives jumping restlessly in and out of her fingers like a deadly coin juggling trick.

Now that he has the opportunity to stand still with his bow thrumming cold as naked ice in his hand Arcturus’ awareness extends to its natural state when augmented by light so much. He feels every minute fluctuation in the web of light around him as Titans Hunters and Warlocks glow with energy all across the City. They stand there for hours as Titans from the walls and Warlocks from their libraries and eventually Hunters from the wilds all return to the City.

Above the gathering of it’s chosen the Traveller is slowly consumed by light. Pulses of pure energy creep across its surface like ichor seeping from a wound. The great chunks of the Traveller’s form that had been broken off in it’s escape from Ghaul’s prison start to collapse back into place; sealing over into the perfect formless shape of the Traveller that Arcturus has known since he laid eyes on it so many hundreds of years ago.  
“It’s healing itself...” a Warlock whispers reverently to his right. Arcturus’ moves closer to Tallulah.  
“Orders Tallu?” he whispers quietly, snapping her out of her almost trancelike gaze.

Even after the minimal distraction of his words Arcturus can tell his old friend is struggling to keep a handle on this much power surging through her blood.  
“Disperse this lot.” She manages through gritted teeth, the fire coating every piece of her glowing even brighter as another surge of healing energy fills them all with light and she struggles to channel away the excess without simply throwing a knife barrage and levelling an entire quarter of the City like a walking nuclear warhead. “Get them to make sure that the people are safe and in their homes until Zavala issues a directive or this subsides.”

Arcturus is about to turn to the assembled crowd when he hears Raven clear her throat and draw their attention.  
“Make sure the people are safe.” She commands in a tone that brooks no argument. “We don't know what this could be doing to them.”

Titans nod immediately and make their way down as an organised group, Arcturus can hear the tramping of their boots as they start moving among the people in lock-step. The Warlocks disperse in groups as well, frantic whispers leaving their lips as they go to either observe the event with others for study or to see what they can do to observe the effects this strange event has on the people and offer what help they can. The Hunters leave sporadically, but Arcturus has faith in his own people, they’ll do what they can to keep people safe. Now that that’s dealt with, Tallulah is free to deal with the double edged sword that is her immense level of raw potential for damage in peace. He shares a worried glance with Raven.

It feels like hours before the Traveller finally finishes with a single blinding flash of light and Tallulah breathes a tangible sigh of relief.  
“Are you okay?” Raven asks when she deems it safe to do so and her own light seems to have finally run low enough to be safely contained again. Tallulah nods.  
“I’m ok, but-” she cuts off abruptly, hand going to her ear-piece.  
“Zavala? Ok, we’ll get it done.” She rolls her shoulders out and directs Artemis to bring the Drachma to them.  
“Where are we going?” Raven asks, moving closer to Tallulah and taking her hand.  
“Wheels up for Europa.” Tallulah says. “Desolate ball of ice here we come. Something big is happening.”  
“Something big just happened.” Arcturus mutters, his hands feeling empty now that the light that filled them for hours is gone, his Void curled back around his heart like icy talons.

Raven opens her mouth to speak, but the withering staccato thud of the Drachma’s engines silences them all as the familiar feeling of transmat takes hold.


End file.
